Pirelli: We need to know about 2014

28 February 2013

Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery says the tyre company will need a decision 'sooner rather than later' about whether its deal to supply the F1 grid will be extended into 2014.

The current deal in place comes to an end at the conclusion of the 2013 campaign, with no announcement having yet come as to whether it will continue into a fourth year – despite Pirelli saying it is keen to continue.

Talks are ongoing with the FIA about a new agreement but motorsport boss Paul Hembery insisted that the Italian company couldn't wait forever and needed to know sooner rather than later so it could put the necessary resources into the right areas.

"Any negotiations or things to do with contracts take time," he was quoted by ESPN. "That's the phase we're in but progress is being made and we hope to see some definitive answers in the near future. I can't give you a date because these things take a long time, but clearly I can't see us being here in June or July still talking about whether we are going to be in the sport. That really does start to become impossible.

"As you can imagine we employ quite a lot of people and we do need to know as a company at some point what we are meant to be doing. Talks are ongoing and we are making some progress. We don't have any final solutions yet but that has to happen sooner rather than later, for sure."